Spain’s youngest diocesan priest blesses tennis player Carlos Alcaraz

Priest Miguel Tovar, from the Diocese of Cartagena (Spain), has shared on social networks the moment in which he gave his blessing to the tennis player Carlos Alcaraz, when they met at the stadium of the Real Murcia Football Club, of which they are fans.

“Taking advantage of Carlos Alcaraz’s visit to Real Murcia’s Copa del Rey match, I have had the honor of meeting him, chatting with him and giving him my blessing before his next commitments in Turin and the Davis Cup,” explained the young priest.

In conversation with ACI Prensa, Father Tovar, who is chaplain of Real Murcia, explains that he arrived late for the match on October 30 and, when he saw the tennis player, he was surprised, because he could not identify him with the last dyeing of his hair.

During the break he introduced himself and they were talking about how they are almost the same age and that they have both achieved important things at an early age: “I am a 24-year-old priest and he is number one in the world, very young too (22). And both of them are from Murcia.”

When the second part was about to begin, the friends “started joking about the blessing,” due to the precedent of last August, when, in New York, it was blessed by a priest from St. Patrick’s Cathedralwho also sprinkled holy water on the tennis player.

At that time, Alcaraz was number 2 in the ATP world rankings and now he is in first place.

They decided to leave it for the end of the game. “I asked, above all, that the Lord would bless him, give him strength. Even in difficult moments, in moments of defeat. Because that is also where the Lord pours out: in moments of crosses, in moments of suffering, we need his strength, fortitude and peace.”

“I saw it as if we had known each other forever, very close, very simple. It was like talking to a normal friend from Murcia. I lived it very normally, but with a lot of pride, with a lot of emotion and with a tremendous honor for me,” details the priest.

“We priests are not weirdos”

As chaplain of his city’s team, Father Miguel Tovar maintains fluid contact with the players, although he has changed a lot about how this apostolate was carried out some time ago.

“It’s not like it was a few years ago, when the Chaplain always said blessing, mass was celebrated and all the players confessed. Spain has changed a lot,” he acknowledges.

In any case, he considers that “the simple fact that there is a chaplain on a team is a great opportunity to be able to show the Lord,” especially with his presence, with which, little by little, he tries to earn the respect and closeness of the players.

“At first it was very strange for them and for me. But today I am one more with them. Some talk more, others less. They are not all believers or practitioners. But it is a way of showing them a face of the Church and a face of the Lord and that priests are not weirdos,” he describes.

Father Tovar talks about football with the Real Murcia team and tries to act “with great closeness and with great normality.”

Miguel Tovar became in the youngest priest in Spain last July when he received priestly ordination. Born into a Christian family, he has an older sister and a twin, and began to become clear about his vocation at the age of 13.

Since his ordination he became the chaplain of Real Murcia, the local football club of which they are both fans. This Thursday, October 30, they met at the stadium where the first Copa del Rey tie was being played against Antequera CF.